Communication and Computing
Headsets and immersive displays from laboratory prototypes to consumer products.
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A plain-language overview of how VR headsets moved from 1960s laboratory displays and 1990s arcade attempts to the consumer products of the 2010s.
How virtual reality grew as a computing and media story, from theme-park rides and films to location-based venues and the graphics hardware behind them.
How industry began using VR headsets for design review, training simulation and remote collaboration, and what has and has not been shown to work.
A history of educational experiments with immersive displays, from flight and vehicle simulators to museum and school pilot projects, and what is known about results.
A look at the VR game headsets of the 1990s, why they failed commercially, what actually shipped, and how the market revived in the 2010s.
What Ivan Sutherland and colleagues actually built in the 1960s, how heavy and limited it was, and why claims of the first VR headset need care.
How headset technology built for entertainment was adapted for medical training and clinical research, told as a history of crossover rather than medical advice.
A history of early research on virtual environments in psychology and rehabilitation, from 1990s anxiety studies to burn-pain distraction. History only, not advice.
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